As per your remarks in your now infamous column, i should just like you to look at the below picture of me. Look at it and tell me you still find your comments were appropriate and funny.

A driver pulled out on me recklessly, and as a result i pretty much lost all of my top row of teeth, I had a broken nose, and badly bruised legs and arms.

You see... whilst it may be funny for you to 'scare us' by beeping your horn or driving at a close vicinity, it wasnt so funny for me to hit the tarmac, it wasnt so funny to be unable to touch solid food and be in considerable pain, and it actually wasnt that funny when i had to see my mum and watch her cry.

So Mr Martin, I should honestly hope that no-one would ever purposefully endanger your children, as a driver did to me. They, and yourself..... might just fail to see the funny side then.

14 comments:

OMG... I can't believe what a complete idiot chef James Martin is for boasting he dangerously forced a group of cyclists in to hedge whilst testing a sports car. He showed his true environmental and moral colours, and no amount of groveling (only due to the backlash) should be able to save his reputation.

I hope everyone can rally together to get this mindless idiot off the air.

Sorry to hear and see you like this Gem. I didn't know that this had happened to you. For what its worth - I'd like to share my story in solidarity to what seems to be an ongoing and tragic concern. Hey, I'm not simply a cyclist; it's great to get behind a wheel and drive, and walking through London can be a real pleasure. But there's something to be said for cycling around this city - it is simply the best way to get around and enjoy it! So it is truly a painful experience to be at the raw end of someone’s short temper. I was taken to hospital recently when I too became the victim of a pointless hit and run. The crazy thing was this: coming off Rocks Lane (after a few nice laps of the local park ;-) my friend experienced a near-miss, as a white-van driver whizzed down the narrow straight. Not wanting to scare my friend, since he doesn’t wear a helmet, I half laughed as I pointed out the necessity of head protection. Since the driver didn’t come across as having any intention of doing us harm, we made nothing of it and cycled pass, pulled up to the lights and waited, enjoying another great afternoon. As the lights turned green, we slipped into the bus lane, and in utter disbelief I felt the presence of the very same van come crashing into me. I like to think that I can gather my thoughts pretty quickly, but at the speed and impact in which it all happened put me on the flat on my back, with a cracking sound as my head hit the tarmac. My helmet was smashed. Two police cars; three community officers; an ambulance and an MRI scan later, I was still on my back, but this time on a hospital bed with a concussion and a neck brace holding me together. The doctor said the helmet did its job and saved my life. Thankfully I'm all recovered, but even though there were witnesses and a partial index, with the company name - BRICK WORKS, by the way; the police said they couldn't follow it any further. It’s bad enough we have accidents on the road, but intentional harm? What’s that all about? All I can hope is that the minority of people who unwittingly put peoples lives at risk take a long hard look in their hearts and consider the value of life. Like most cyclists, I feel it is a privilege to sample the simple pleasure of life, with the likes of cycling. Most of us do the right thing. Please, think about doing the same.

It was sad to see you that day in the hospital and even sadder to see you sip on soup for the next few weeks and moan about dentists. We seem to have a few James Martins here in Australia who don't think cyclists belong on the road, which is really sad as like London, Sydney is a top place to cycle around. Good on you for the letter!

I think the whole Mr Martin thing was a bit silly, and i would love him to read my post, just so he could put a human consequence to his actions.

I only ever want to educate drivers to our dangers, a lot of them seem to think its funny to scare and intimidate us but often if they were confronted with what the potential outcome could be they would change their attitude in a heartbeat. Im sure they would feel awful if they actually injured or god forbid, killed one of us.

Well done for posting this. Precisely what ignorant arrogant butter-balls Martin needs to see to make him realise that it's dangerous enough out there without his reckless driving and incitement of hatred towards cyclists.

I hope he sees it. It would be good if you could send a copy to his agent. In the meantime, best wishes for an excellent recovery and hope you're back out enjoying the bike again before too long. :-)

simon lamb said it for me - you are still pretty and as a cyclist for over 40 yrs, I wear a few 'battle scars' too.Wear yours with pride.The damage does nothing bad for your looks and will show your courage and strength in the future.All the best Bianchista!

Well done hun for writing this letter - lets just hope he see's it xx get well soon and get back on your bike. Thankfully there's plenty of decent drivers out there that are courteous and drive correctly. Take care of you xxx

Great to see this letter and I hope you've recovered. We should create a blog containing pictures of our collected scar tissue for that intellectual giant to see!

Martin's remarks remind me of a time a number of years ago when a farmer with a hay bailer attached to his tractor waited for me at the top of a steep Cornish hill. He waited for 5 minutes and then slowly went down the other side, pulling out just far enough to encourage me to ride down the inside. I slowed down behind him, he slowed down and finally I just stopped and deliberately shook my head. We waited in a Mexican stand-off for another two or three minutes before he slowly drove off down the hill. There were no witnesses, but I knew that if had I tried to go down the inside I would have been crushed to death in the blink of an eye.

That's the trouble with the Martin's and Clarkson's of this world. They provide succour for the small minority of genuinely psychotic motorists who really want to kill you, knowing they can write it off as an unfortunate accident with a small fine and three points on their licence.